Thousands of CDs and storage devices
were seized after a raid on Sony Music Entertainment Mexico offices
linked to a legal case with ranchera singer Alejandro
Fernandez.
Sony Music officials said the recordings seized are
"totally authorized" discs. Furthermore, the
company said "we trust that the Mexican courts will confirm our
rights as soon as possible." After a complaint from
Fernandez's representatives accusing Sony of using the artist's
music, videos and photos, the feds seized a total of 6,397 CDs from
Sony offices.
Fernandez first signed with Sony in 1998, but
finished with the record label in 2008, which led to him joining a
new record label. However, Fernandez recorded numerous songs
that never made it onto released CDs -- Sony announced it was
creating an album of Fernandez' previously recorded music, which
Universal protested.
"What Sony did that was wrong and
illegal was to assume
that they could take those tracks that weren't part of the
previous albums and release them as an eighth album as if it were
new material over which they had rights," said Jose Luis
Caballero, one of Fernandez's attorneys. "And it's
perfectly clear that the company's contract is limited to seven
albums."
Fernandez, who recently signed with Universal
Music, has sold more than 15 million records en route to winning two
Latin Grammys.